virtualbox.org

Hello,

I really hope someone can point me in the right direction here because this is driving me crazy and I don't know where to begin.

Host: Win7 (extensions installed for USB 2.0 support)
Guest: SBS 2011 (guest additions not installed)
VB version: 4.1.xx (don't remember exactly and can't check at the moment)

I stream MP3s to myself via h t t p (IIS 7) while at work. I us WinAMP. The webserver and MP3s are on my SBS 2011 VM. After the VM has been running for a few days I start to experience problems with this. WinAMP playback will suddenly stop as if it lost connection to the server/VM. If I click and ever so slightly drag WinAmp's playback progress bar then release, playback will continue. If I click stop then play, playback will resume. If I click next or previous, playback will resume. It's like my initial connection was dropped and I need to initiate a new connection. But I have no idea why this is happening.

I use to do this exact same thing on my old, non-virtualized server (SBS 2003) and did not have these issues. I have narrowed it down to a problem with either VirtualBox or SBS 2011 running inside VB because:

1) This use to work before w/ my previous server
2) The problem goes away after rebooting the VM

I have no idea where to start troubleshooting something like this and I'm not 100% sure this is a VB problem. It could be the guest OS but I don't know how to tell.

I'm hoping a network guru here could get me started with this troubleshooting. Perhaps some sort of network monitoring tool on the client side or the server side? Maybe changing network adapter settings? Perhaps trying a different VB network adapter type?

Any help or guidance in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time and have a great day!

P.S. My host also has issues playing back these MP3s from the guest. The guest uses it's own dedicated NIC so the host accesses the guest as if it were a different computer on the network via my switch. I use MediaPortal on the host and sometimes, after the VM has been running for a few days, the music will start to loop (about a 5 second loop) because it has not received the remaining song data but knows the song should be longer. Again, rebooting the VM guest solves this problem.

Plz help!

Bump.

No one? This is a very annoying problem and I'd love to resolve it. Someone here must have some experience troubleshooting sustained network connectivity.

Why does rebooting the VM fix the problem for a few days?

I'm sure there may be better places to ask this type of question but I do not know where that may be.

Any advice at all would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Well there seems to be little to no diagnostic information available for anyone to sort through.
Perhaps the guests log file (as an attachment) would be a start.
Also if you think this may be network related you should switch to using the VirtIO (paravirtualized) network adapter in the guest.

Hello,

I know it's been a while since I wrote this but I'm still having issues. Today I upgraded to 4.1.20 and attempted to switch from Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop to the Paravirtualized (virtio-net) adapter type. Upon booting into SBS 2011 there was no start menu button or task bar. I couldn't do anything. Any idea why this would happen? Do I need to add a 2nd adapter set to virtio-net while keeping my first adapter the same in order to install the virtio-net drivers?

Where do I find the guest log file that you requested?

Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.

The VM log file is called "VBox.log", and can be found in the "Logs" subfolder of your VM folder. It is most convenient (and allows for bigger logs) if you post this as a zipped attachment.

And to save time it would be nice to have some details of your network settings too, e.g. what NIC simulation did you select, what kind of host NIC is it (e.g. wired, integrated or USB wireless), and how is the VM connected to it, e.g. NAT or bridged.

Hello,

Thank you for the tips. I have attached the logs.

Networking Setup:

Adapter 1:
Attached to: Bridged Adapter
Name: Intel(R) PRO/1000 EB Network Connection with I/O Acceleration #2 (this is the 2nd port of the host's integrated dual NIC; the 1st port is used by the host OS)
Adapter Type: Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop (82454OEM)
Promiscuous Mode: Deny

Adapters 2-4 are disabled.

I was at work today and streamed myself music without one single hiccup...because I restarted the VM yesterday. Given another day or two and I will start to experience the network dropouts as described earlier in this post. This is why I attempted to setup virtio-net as someone here suggested. Unfortunately that made my VM unusable as it no longer had any desktop, start button, or task bar.

I made some .cap files with what I believe was Microsoft Network Monitor 3.4 from the client machine running WinAMP. I'm not sure if they'll be helpful or not but let me know if so. Once the connection drops out (streaming of MP3 stops) I can see many entries that read "Request Fast-Retrasnmit from Seq##########".

TCP:[Request Fast-Retransmit from Seq132427350]Flags=...A...., SrcPort=54791, DstPort=HTTP(80), PayloadLen=0, Seq=3101976130, Ack=132427350, Win=260
TCP:[Continuation to #15]Flags=...A...., SrcPort=HTTP(80), DstPort=54791, PayloadLen=1452, Seq=132431706 - 132433158, Ack=3101976130, Win=260

As soon as I move the slider or press Next/Prev/Pause/Play in WinAMP, streaming will continue...sometimes for many hours, sometimes for only a few seconds.

This is very strange and I'd really love to get this figured out. Please let me know if you need any further information.

Thanks a ton!

P.S. I realize there are now two issues in this thread. One, using a virtualized NIC gives me drop outs. Two, selecting virtio-net in VBox Networking yeilds an unusable VM. I'd be happy to get either one working.

Not sure if its a Vm problem so I can't answer for VM...but good practice would be to give QOS to Port 443 SSL and block unwanted connections into your network.
You hopefully have a Firewall hardware applicance like Verizon/Comcast or if your lucky Astaro ASG 525 just give QOS to 443 And block open ports connections that come into your network.
If you don't know ....then just get more bandwidth for your neighbors.

The reasoning is that if a user on your home network consumes bandwith as in a downloads or horrible WiFi teens stealing your bandwith you will lose connectivity or upload which is what you need.

Do you have enough bandwith to steam/VOIP? If you lose some bandwith will it make a difference. It could especially if you have LOW Upload speed.

test your network when you get home

speedtest.net

remember its the UPload that counts. You want that high number or your going to have to lock down your connections so tight that only you will have full Quality of service FIRST and over anyone else that uses your internet connection.

Also always use static Ips never dhcp. Dhcp causes more problems then it's worth since its temporary unless arp table it. Of course then there's the work internet connection speed.........

Now if thats good, check your Tmp files right click on computer. make sure the winamp directory temp files are not full. A reboot removes temp files buildup.
hope this is somewhat of a help.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I do have a router with firewall. However I do not believe this is at all bandwidth or network related. Reasons were stated earlier but for one, this didn't happen when I was using and actual server instead of a VM, and two, the problem goes away after a reboot of the VM. Additionally, if this was just low bandwidth or something like that, the streaming client (WinAMP) would simply stop and re-buffer...not completely stop until user action. Oh, and I almost forgot, this problem also affects the host's connection to the VM. The host has a dual nic. One for the host and one for the VM so the host machine is accessing the VM just like any other outside computer. When the host computer plays MP3s from the VM machine it will sometimes connection though the symptoms are different because it's not using WinAMP.

speakeasy.net/speedtest reports 11.5 Mbps down and 1.4 Mbps up. Plenty for MP3 streaming and I have no other network users.

So, although this problem may not be related to the virtualized nic, it definitely seems VM related somehow. I admit it could even be related to the VM's OS but that seems the least likely as I've never encountered a problem like this before.

Any ideas how I can troubleshoot further?

Thanks!

haha I got news for you 1 meg is cutting close. If you want to hear quality HD music your going to need better larger speed.
This could be your problem on "SHARED residential Internet" especially with copper cable. Around 5pm your bandwith drops like a hookers skirt from multiple users thus dropping your upload speed.
Lets assume there nothing wrong with the connections which is guessing.

Why does the music stop (ha ha) after playing for hours. 2 reasons: 1 bandwith reduced and its rebuffered or just totally dropped connection stream.
or the buffer for winamp temp file gets too big and cannot write anymore w/o reboot. 32 bits systems is 4 gigs.

Please open winam and find the temp directory location. make sure that its not full. Most likely that's the problem.

Then go to System Properties>Advanced>environmebt variables. Go to bottom of system variables and look specfically for
C:Windows\TEMP
Tmp C\:Windows\TEMP

you should change that anyway to another drive that has more free space and is faster.

Winamp has its own demons but find out where the files are being stored temp and change the location to a larger buffer size.

I have no idea what computer how much space ram but theses could do the trick/

Also update any nic drivers directly ie not from Dell site they use old drivers sometimes. As far as VM goes it will either connect or not. Quality of the internet has to do what your cable company.

I assume you can't get verizon fios for 135 month you get this and Tv and phone. I remember compuserver 300 baud at $5 buck hr.

Hi Mike,

Thank you for your reply but unfortunately off on a few accounts. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate the fact that you took time to reply. But I do know a thing or two about computers and you keep looking over some of the other facts that make your suggestions less likely.

I have DSL. All my MP3s are 320 kbps max. So 1.4 Mbps IS plenty. Plus this happens during the day while I'm at work, not around 5pm. Not to mention the fact that another computer on the local network also experiences these same communication problems w/ the VM.

The client machines are not rebooted nor are the applications restarted yet the problem clears after a VM restart so this is not client application problem, hard drive space problem, or ram problem. And again, there are two different computers with two different client applications that experience this.

I guess I really need advice on how to nail down where the problem is occurring. Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

run this

http://trippbl2.online.lync.com/

Again, I can't speak for VB but I would guess it's related to your network latency which you say is not the problem.

In my experience in using ADSL it has many latency problems and would explain two different machines experiencing same problems.

Now if is not then I don't know how Vm handles traffic or if it automatically reconnects connection with packets drop.

Try just powering off (Unplug your modem for 5 mins.)

The reason I say this is that I went through this many many times with adsl. You can say its something else and you may be right but double check that latency first.

Just trying to help.

I do appreciate your help, but yet again, you're missing one of the facts that takes the internet connection out of the equation. Another machine, on the same local network as the VM, also experiences these same communication problems. Therefore it cannot be 'strictly' internet connection related.

It could be the internal network, except it's not, because the problem goes away after a VM restart while NOT restarting anything else. This also makes me think it's not the host's dual nic since I do not restart the host, just the VM.

I have unplugged all network devices many times since first noticing this issue.

And again, I did not have this issue when using an actual machine to do this task before I started using a VM.

Latency is not the issue here.

Thank you though!

your missing the point yet again. what's wrong with you why so much anger?
"I stream MP3s to myself via h t t p (IIS 7) while at work. I us WinAMP. " That means InterNET on your first post.

Now, if you are talking INTRAnet then it could possibly relate to a firewall build up of logs files due to very little ram available.

This is why I asked you to reboot your "plastic router" right?

Don't be a %$$%^ know it all. Be nice to anyone who is trying to help you and for free.

Mike,

I'm trying to be nice and I do appreciate your efforts, but you don't appear to be paying attention to all the facts. Let me try to tell you why your suggestions don't apply, again.

Internet and Intranet both affected. Therefore, not an internet connection problem.

Problem goes away after a VM reboot. This problem didn't exist before I started using a VM for this task. Plus, I have already tried to reboot the "plastic router" anyway. Therefore, not a router problem.

How can I find out exactly where this communication breakdown is happening? And I'm not referring to Mike and I What tools can I use? What logs should I analyze or submit to this thread? Anything.

Thanks!